WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN WA MUNICIPALITY IN GHANA

Abstract

The effort at democratization in the world over brought in its wake the momentum of women's participation in decision making since the Beijing Conference in 1995. It came to the recognition that, the overall development of a country depends largely upon the maximum utilization of its human resources, both men and women. In Ghana, available data indicates that women comprise more than half of the total population. However, their status is much lower than that of their male counterparts. This study thus examined women's participation in local governance in the Wa Municipality. It seeks to ascertain the level of women participation in local governance in the Wa Municipality in Ghana. Both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used to arrive at the sample size of 120 respondents. The study revealed that out of the 13 appointed members of the Assembly, only 3 are women which fall short of the 30% reserved position advocated for women. Also, 93.3% of the total memberships of the unit committees in the Municipality are men with women constituting only 6.8%. This revealed a low level of women participation in local governance. However, barriers that limited the effective women participation include high illiteracy rate among women, lack of interest and faith in politics, cultural barriers, inferiority complex and religious beliefs. The NCCE and ActionAid Ghana are the main support structures of local governance. The study recommends the need for an affirmative action, women to take advantage of the 30% reserve appointment, include gender issues in curriculum of basic schools, nature the self-confidence of women and support women centred enterprises.